Amid US export restrictions, Nvidia CEO visits China after 3 months

CEO Jensen Huang of Nvidia arriving in Beijing, China on the 17th (Source: Weibo)

As the United States has further strengthened semiconductor export controls to China, CEO Jensen Huang of Nvidia visited China again after three months. This visit is drawing attention from the industry as it took place amidst heightened tensions between the US and China.

According to the account ‘Wei Yuan Tan Tian’ under China Central Television (CCTV) on the 17th, CEO Huang visited Beijing at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). He had also visited Nvidia branches in China and Taiwan in January, continuing local activities, and attended a New Year's event held at the Beijing branch where he gave a speech related to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This move came right after the Trump administration imposed new export license requirements on Nvidia's AI semiconductor product H20 for China. The US Department of Commerce strengthened export restrictions, citing that the chip could be utilized in China's advanced systems, acting as the first official regulation on Nvidia.

This measure is understood as an extension of the American First policy, which was intensified under President Trump, while inheriting the semiconductor control measures against China maintained since the Biden administration. Recently, the United States has expanded high tariff policies worldwide, increasing economic pressure on China.

The export restriction is expected to lead Nvidia to losses of billions of dollars, and concerns are raised that it could also affect CEO Huang's existing plan to invest up to 500 billion dollars over the next four years to build a domestic-centered AI infrastructure.

Coinciding with CEO Huang's visit to China, the conflict surrounding semiconductors between the US and China has resurfaced, and Nvidia's response and in-country activities in China are likely to act as major variables in the industry going forward.